Ring Around the Rosie, We All Fall Down
by Jedders
Summary: Maria Pines falls into the hole to Wonderland on the way home from school. She meets the inhabitants and takes a sudden liking to Peter. I'm bad with summaries but it's a love story so be prepared for fluff. Peter x OC
1. Chapter 1

This is a quick warning. This first chapter was originally made for my account on Quizilla. It was going to be a story with this as the universal intro and then every chapter after this would be dedicated to a character tree. I copied most of it from there so Peter isn't in this one hardly at all. (I had to cut his intro short while posting this for the other site.) The rest of the story will be a Maria X Peter story. I guess if I get enough requests I could make other Kuni no Alice stories, but Peter is the easiest for me, since he is my favorite. Enjoy. XD (There may be some spoilers both manga and game)

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It happened far too quickly. She had just been walking home from school when she looked up at the sky to see the clouds and determine whether or not she thought it would rain on this cloudy day, but when she looked down again, she fell into a humongous hole. She had no idea how she hadn't seen it coming, but suddenly, she was plummeting deeper and deeper through the giant chasm in the earth.

She screamed but she must have fallen so far now, no one could have heard her. Terrified, Maria Pines had to reach up and grab the glasses that flew off of her face. Her elbow length dirty blond hair flew wildly upward with the rushing wind. She kept her blue gray eyes tightly shut against the air, though, since sunlight couldn't reach her, it was pitch black around her anyway. Her blue jeans puffed up with air and her long sleeved red shirt was threatening to fly up and cover her face revealing everything it should hide.

The next thing she knew, she was sitting at the top of a clock tower. She looked around, panicked. The sky was black and littered with stars. Looking down from the sky, she realized she had never seen such a place in her time, so full of trees and dirt paths, not a car or cement road to be seen. There was a magnificent looking castle, a grand mansion and a huge Amusement Park in the distance.

Remembering she was afraid of heights, Maria scrambled away from the edge and quickly down a stairwell, where she bumped into a tall man with long hair the same shade and color as his cobalt eyes. Even being tied at the nape of his neck, it trailed down to his knees. He wore a black coat with elaborate gold edges that matched his shirt underneath. His pants and shoes were the same plain black.

"What are you doing here? Leave! Go back, now!" He yelled in a deep scary voice. Maria jumped and slipped past him, thinking this man must own the clock tower and obviously sees her as some trouble maker who snuck into the tower. As she scrambled down the stairway she called back.

"Yes sir! I'm very sorry, it was an accident!" Exiting the stairway as the man turned around and ran after her. Maria began running through the doors at random in her panic. Finally making it to the entrance, she ran into a new man.

This man had shoulder length straight silver hair and the left eye was grey while the other was covered in an eye patch. He wore a dark gray coat with black and gold boarders, a black tie and a frilly white shirt that covered the top of his dark gray pants. His expression was still shocked.

"Who are you? A stranger?" He asked curiously. She looked back nervously at the door afraid the blue haired man would find her. "Don't worry, Julius isn't a bad guy, but he will make you leave Wonderland if he catches you." The one eye's man said. She looked back up at him.

"Wonderland?"Maria asked. The man nodded. "That's where you are. My name is Nightmare. How did you get here? He asked quietly. She was unsure whether to tell the truth or not and did not notice that the man answered her fear of the man chasing her. Finally, she decided to start with her name.

"Um... I'm Maria." Next was the hard part. Who would believe she had fallen down a huge hole and gone to a place called Wonderland and looked like it was hundreds of years in the past? Apparently, nightmare was a mind reader.

"So the hole just appeared? How odd. Well, Maria, I'd love to chat with you more, but Julius is on his way, here... You should go somewhere else for a little while." He said She wanted to stop and asked questions, but was not brave enough to face the blue haired man. (Julius?) Giving a look back over her shoulder, Maria ran out the door and down the stairs outside. There was a path leading into a forest that surrounded the tower and she followed it and made her ways past a fork in the road at two separate points in her haste to be away.

Once Maria decided she was far enough to be safe, she thought for a while. It looked like she was somewhere back in time, she was in a country or city with a name she knew was not part of her word, Wonderland, hair colors like Silver and blue (without differently colored roots or eyebrows.) Plus the one eyed man read her mind and anyway, what kind of person would name their son Nightmare?

Maria concluded that she could think of three explanations. 1. She was crazy. This was her least favorite. 2. She was dreaming and 3. She really had fallen into some kind of alternate universe. She dreaded what kind of conclusion she would draw up next and decided to walk on, but noticed it was light out now.

When she was standing at the top of the clock tower, it was night, but apparently during her escape from Julius, daylight sprang forth. She mentally added this to her 'I'm crazy/ dreaming/ in another world' list as she walked down the dirt road toward the mansion she had seen earlier. It felt peaceful to her and unbelievably comfortable to be surrounded by the tall still trees and being able to feel the warm silence because not a car could be heard in any direction. She sighed comfortably. If she was going crazy, it might not be so bad after all.

Soon. she reached the tall black gates of the mansion. Since she was only looking, she didn't try to touch or open them at all.

"Hi, there, Onee san!" Called a sweet voice from only a few feet away. Maria looked around. There were two young teenage boys standing near her. The twins both had short black hair sticking out from under their colored hats that matched their uniform jackets. One wore all blue and one wore all red. Even their eyes shared these colors. Their black pants were the first articles of clothing to break this pattern. Maria was worried though, because each boy held a large pole axe.

"Hi, boys, I'm Maria what are your names?" She asked. The two smiled mischievously to each other but before they could respond two men walked up to the gate from the inside.

"Dee, Dum! Who is that!" Yelled a strange man. He had wavy orange blond hair that brushed his shoulders. His narrow eyes were a bright clear blue. He wore a lovely thick purple patterned scarf with bits of straw sticking out of it randomly, his black trench coat contrasted with his green pants and yellow boots, even with the gold belts, one around his waist and one diagonally from his right shoulder under his left arm and blue circular designs near the fastenings and sleeves. The piece that stuck out the most about this man, though, were the long furry rabbit ears sprouting from his orange hair and fading into light brown fur.

"You're supposed to take care of everyone." He snapped again. The second man put a hand on the rabbit man's shoulder as he snapped the fingers of his free white gloved hand and the gates began to open.

"Now, Elliot. Isn't that rude to our guest?: Said the man with almost shoulder length black hair hanging out from under a grand top hat decorated with a red ribbon, bunches of roses and black feathers. There were also two note cards one of which read 10/6. He had turquoise eyes that somehow told her this man is dangerous yet made her feel safe at the same time. He wore a big black bow tie with intricate gold designs, a white coat with extra long coat tails, a white shirt, black pants that suddenly turned white at the knee and black shoes. The twins stood on either side of her as the hatted man and Elliot approached her.

" But, Blood-" The rabbit eared man started but the hatted man shot him one cold look with those turquoise eyes and Elliot fell silent.

"Forgive us, Miss. You are a new face here, am I correct?" Blood asked in an alluring voice. She nodded in response.

"Her name is Maria, Boss!" The red twin piped up.

"Dum, Blood's talking, shut up!" Elliot said and pounded his fist down on the child's head.

"Sorry, I'm just looking around... I don't mean to cause trouble. I'm a bit lost, I guess. I don't know how I got to Wonderland at all, so I'm exploring." Maria explained. Blood smiled.

"You mean you're a stranger? From another world!" Elliot explained, his ears standing up straight. Maria almost jumped in shock.

"Y-Yeah, is that normal?" She stuttered. Elliot turned to look at Blood, the twins stared at you, but Blood smiled wider.

"Not unheard of but not normal, either." He explained. Maria felt slightly relieved at possibly not being seen as crazy in this delusional dream world.

"Hey, everyone! Is there an outing in progress going on here?" Came a voice from a few yards behind her.

He had smiling dark red eyes and short wild brown hair that dangled partially over his eyes. This man wore a long red trench coat with belts along the sides. The bottom was torn and frayed giving it a ragged appearance. Under the floor length coat he wore a black shirt with bright red lining, black pants and knee high gray boots.

"Ace!" Elliot shouted his blue eyes suddenly furious. Blood's smile faded and Dee and Dum's axes were shifting in the twins' hands restlessly. Based on everyone's reactions, she felt nervous. Maybe, despite this new man's smiling face and cheerful manner, he was bad?

"What are you doing here!" Elliot demanded, his brown rabbit ears twitched angrily. Ace waved and stopped next to Maria.

"I'm on my way to the castle, so I thought I'd take this shortcut... Hi there, I'm Ace." He added holding out a gray gloved hand for the girl to take. Maria hesitantly took his hand.

"My name's Maria?" She said quietly. Elliot looked like he was about to explode.

"Idiot! You took the wrong path again! You're lost!" The blue twin, Dee, yelled. Ace suddenly stopped smiling and looked around him.

"You must be mistaken, I'm sure this is the right way." Ace said lightly. Blood taped his cane on the ground and sighed.

"The path to the castle is back the way you came, look in the distance, you are walking away from it." He said pointing to the huge white and red castle only a few miles away. Ace looked and tapped his finger to his chin.

"Are you-"Ace was cut off by Elliot's thunderous voice, he had finally bubbled over.

"Yes! We're sure; now leave us and the stranger alone!"Suddenly Blood turned to glare coldly at the rabbit eared man as Ace's eyes widened and he turned back to Maria. Even though she had already shaken his hand, he seized hers again.

"Oh, wow! I had no idea you were from another world, Maria, though, it does explain your strange clothing!" He laughed "I mean... a girl wearing pants?" He added in a mutter so quiet Maria barely heard him. The twins turned to Elliot whose face was flushed in embarrassment.

"You stupid blondie rabbit!" Dum yelled. "You told the enemy about the stranger!" Dee finished. Maria, feeling annoyed by all the attention and Dum's blondie comment, almost snapped at the red twin, but caught sight of the black axes in their hands and thought better of it.

"Well... Thank you, everyone, for the warm welcome, but I need to find a way home." She said diplomatically. Ace responded first.

"Oh, I can take you to the castle. I think Queen Vivaldi would like to meet you, too!" He suggested, but suddenly the axes were flying right by her face. She jumped but when she could focus her eyes again, Maria saw the weapons were directed at Ace. Both twins were glaring murderously at Ace. Their axes were on either side of his neck, but he was still smiling.

"The stranger can stay here, if boss says so. Onee san doesn't need to go to the castle." One of them said darkly as Blood reached over and grabbed Maria's arm firmly, leading her away from the twins and Ace to stand by his side against the mansion's gate.

"You don't want her to stay in enemy territory, because you know she's better off there." Ace said smoothly and suddenly slashed his sword out of its sheath, throwing the axes away from him.

"Oh my! Shouldn't we stop them!"Maria yelled in terror as the twins and Ace began battle. Blood looked down at her with a gentle smile.

"No, since you're mew here, you may not know about the territorial war." He said in a silky voice. He continued at her blank expression. "There are four regions. The clock tower is the only neutral ground. The Heart Castle, which is where Ace lives, the Amusement Park and us, the Hatters here at Hatter Mansion, are in a power struggle." He explained. Elliot appeared on the other side.

"You may not know it, but Blood here is the leader of the mafia!" He exclaimed. Maria suddenly couldn't wait to leave the mansion.

"I really should go, though." She said desperately. Ace suddenly popped up in her face dodging axes.

"You might find more answers at the castle, Maria." He said. She paused for a moment, sighed and responded.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Just to see if there are answers of course." She said shakily. She was terrified of making the mafia mad at her, but she also needed to get home. Ace's smile was the biggest she had seen on him yet as Elliot scowled at him and the defeated Dee and Dum sulked. Blood, however, smiled at Maria. He leaned forward, just about giving her a huge panic attack, and whispered in her ear so no one other than Maria could hear.

"You are welcome here anytime... Also, be very careful in this world." He warned. The blond fought the urge to rub her ear the man had tickled with his low voice as the Hatter stood up straight again.

"Bye, Onee san!" The twins yelled as Ace lead her back down the road they had come from. For a while, neither spoke until Ace started veering off the path into the thick trees and bushes.

"Ace, shouldn't we start on the trail?" Maria asked confused. The man just smiled over his shoulder.

"I'm trying to get you there quickly so I can introduce you before another time change. Don't be scared of the woods while the sun is out, so I can save you, I'm a knight, you know." He said cheerfully as she doubtfully followed him inside the sea of trees.

Maria began to hear a huge amount of voices and strange noises after they had walked along for a long time. The sky was constantly hidden from them, but when the green light shining through the leaves suddenly got darker, she almost screamed.

"It's just afternoon now... You're a jumpy one, huh?" The knight asked as if she should have expected the sun to sink from morning to afternoon in a span of three seconds.

"How did you get here anyway?" He asked. She took a deep breath, mostly to calm her down.

"I was just walking home from school when a hole appeared in front of me and I fell through it. That's all. I ran away from the clock tower because I think I made the blue haired man, Julius, mad." She explained. All Ace could respond with was:

"You know Julius!" His voice was excited. Maria nodded hesitantly. "I go to his place all the time." He explained. She responded with a nod before Ace brushed away some low branches and helped Maria squeeze through a hedge into the entrance of an enormous Amusement Park.

"Um... Well now I know where all the noise and voices came from." She said with a sigh. "Ace you got lost again, when I was at the top of the Clock Tower I saw that the castle was between this park and the mansion we just came from." She explained. There was a loud voice coming from in front of the pair before Ace could disagree with her.

"Hi there!" The voice called. A man with mid shoulder length reddish brown hair in a braid, his bangs curled over his forehead and stubble on his chin stood before them. He had happy blue eyes behind round glasses, an eccentric bright yellow coat with blue lining and musical note decorations, a yellow shirt under it and a yellow and blue checkered belt criss crossed over his waist decorated with a horse on each side. His pants were light gray Capri pants (They look like riding pants to me, but I wouldn't know.) his long socks matched his belts and his shoes were brown. As strange as his appearance was, Maria first noticed the violin in his hand.

"Ace, have you decided to try the park out?" Asked the man when his smile faded, seeing who had stumbled out of the hedge. Of course Ace's smile never faded.

"No, I'm taking Maria, here, to the castle. " The man's face fell even more. For a moment but he quickly smiled and took her hand.

"Hello, Maria, I believe you are a new face here. I am Gowland the owner of this park." He greeted cheerfully. The blond girl smiled back at him.

"Thank you, I just came here to Wonderland earlier today, I'm still not sure how, but it's nice to know that most of the people here are pretty nice to me." She said partially as a hint that any clues to how she got there would be appreciated. Unfortunately, she received a reaction she should have (but hadn't) expected.

"An outsider! Ace! You're traveling with a stranger!" He yelled. Ace simply nodded. Something purple and pink flew down from a nearby tree. Gowland turned around to see what had fallen. It was a teenage boy with pinkish purple emo hair, spiked slightly and covering his right golden yellow eye. He had cat ears at the top of his head that matched his hair. There was a gold assortment of rings in his right ear, one included a gold fish skeleton exactly like the piercing in his long cat tail.

This cat boy had a black upside down triangle under his only visible eye and wore a black short shirt with a pink collar and pink zippers at the bottom. On his right arm, he wore a wrist length black glove held at the bottom with a pink collar. On the left his glove was elbow length. His short black skort had pink zippers at the end of the skirt and his black and pink stripped socks were knee high but the right sock hadn't been pulled up all the way. A fluffy pink and purple stripped boa over his shoulder and gold chains dangling from every pink collar. Gowland turned away from the boy unconcerned.

"Are you alright?" Maria asked quickly. The boy was standing up by this time and turned to see if there was anyone behind him before staring back at the girl with a raised pink eyebrow. Thinking this was odd behavior, she turned to Ace and Gowland who were both watching her with puzzled expressions.

"What?" She asked, nervously. The boy gathered himself together and shook his head.

"I see, now... You MUST be a stranger!" He said with a laugh. Gowland continued for the cat boy before Maria could ask any questions.

"My, My... No one here in Wonderland would be concerned about a random person like Boris, or any other person close to them or not for simply falling out of a tree!" He said and began laughing with Boris soon joined by Ace. Maria was suddenly hit with a wave of anger.

"Of course I was worried! He could have hurt himself, why don't you care!" She snapped, ceasing all laughter. The Park Owner looked at Ace for a moment.

"You haven't explained anything to her, yet?" He asked before turning back to the flaming teen. "Being hurt or dying doesn't mean anything like it apparently does in your world. We all just get replaced anyway." Gowland explained and Maria's anger melted.

"How can you say that? What do y- That's terrible!" She mumbled before Boris spoke again.

"It's normal here and you should get use to it, since you'll be here for a while." He said. Maria had almost forgotten about going home.

"Oh, no... I won't be here long. Ace is taking me to the castle to see if we can find out how I get home." The boy stared at her again.

"Um.. If you say so... Well, you can come over anytime if you don't find your way back home, right, Old Man?" He asked Gowland who smacked the boy in the head with the bow of his violin.

"Of course, and don't call me that! Before I direct you to the castle, though, allow me to play a song in your hon-"

"NOOOOOOOO!" Boris screamed and raised his hands to cover his fluffy pink ears. "Take the north path to the castle and don't let Ace tell you otherwise, he's directionally challenged. Now, go, quick!" He yelled. She wanted to stay and ask a question but obeyed him anyway. Along the path to the castle, she decided to ask her question to the knight.

"Hey, Ace?" She asked to get his attention.

"Yes?"

"Is it normal in this world to have oddly colored hair and animal ears?" She had been waiting to ask for ages but either could never find an opportunity or it slipped her mind at the wrong times. Ace tapped his chin with a gloved fingertip.

"Hm... Some people DO have animal ears, so yes, but what do you mean oddly colored hair? He asked. Maria sighed.

"In my world, people are only born with brown, blond, red or black hair. I had to ask, because Julius has blue hair, Nightmare has silver hair and Boris has pink hair!" Ace's eyes were wide in shock; she continued to surprise him looking at his red eyes.

"No one in my world has red, gold or silver eyes like you, Boris, Nightmare and the red twin." She said and Ace laughed.

"You wait 'till we get to the castle. Peter has white hair and res eyes and the queen's are both purple!" He said and she shook her head. The Queen sounded interesting but she guessed that Peter was just an aging servant to have white hair and the red eyes seemed to be common here.

Soon enough, they were at a maze made of hedges the castle was just beyond them. Maria tried to find a way through the maze, but kept following Ace and became more confused.

"Ace, the queen would like to see- Who is that?" Asked a soft but obviously irritated voice. Maria turned to see a young man with almost shoulder length snowy white hair with two sleek white rabbit ears on his head. He had narrow bright red eyes behind round glasses. His jacket was plaid and the pale pink shirt had ends that made their way through the collar and under the bottom of his jacket in folded strips. A gold pocket watch lay against his hip and the brown pants he wore had numbers circling at the top and bottom of each pant leg and his shoes matched his jacket.

"Hey, Peter, this is Maria... she's an outsider!" Ace exclaimed. Peter looked at her closer adjusting his glasses.

"Where did you find her?" He asked as if she couldn't hear them.

"I picked her up at the mansion... She's here to see if we can find a way for her to go home." He explained and Peter glanced over at Maria.

"You won't find anything, I'm not sure what Ace believes, but there's nothing in the libraries about strangers or anything foreign, we'd know. I'll take you to the queen anyway, though. He said Maria instantly became angry with Ace. Seeing her look, Peter smiled slightly. "Don't worry; you can stay as long as you want." He said misunderstanding. (Cutting it down because I'm out of space from here on.) She was led to the receiving room, met the queen and Ace explained her situation. Vivaldi agreed there were no known answers before Maria requested to go outside for some time to think. At first the queen was hesitant but finally agreed reluctantly. She left the castle, found her way through the maze and stared at the forest before her unsure where she should stay, what she should do or what questions to ask who..


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you, everyone for the reviews, this is my first posted fanfiction on this site, so it is very appreciated.

Someone asked me why i refer to Maria as a stranger and outsider instead of a foreigner and here is my main reason: I read the online translations as well as the official English versions of the manga, but mostly I play the heart/ Clover/ joker no kuni no alike games and in the translation from the game to English, they call Alice a stranger. In the official English manga they call her an outsider and in the online translations, they call Alice a foreigner. Outsider and stranger are just easier for me to spell. I'm a very bad speller. XD Enjoy.

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Maria sighed to herself as she looked at each path in her road. Finally deciding she knows Ace the best and her aching feet would not take her anywhere, anyway, she turned around to walk back up the path to the castle. She jumped as the sky suddenly changed from the orange sky of evening to a dark blue colored sky of near midnight. Panicked, Maria looked around and noticed the maze of the garden looked too different in the dark to make her way back with confidence. She turned corner after corner in the darkness, only to head further toward the heart of the maze. Hearing a loud BANG nearby, Maria yelled out in surprise.

"Ace?" She called out timidly, growing more and more alarmed. She was far too short to jump up and see over the rose bushes and her eyes still had not fully adjusted to the change in lighting. She heard rustling near where she stood and felt her heart jump in fright. She scrambled away from the sound, not thinking rationally, and backed into a bush. As she tripped into the plant, little cuts scratched their way through her clothes, over her arms and back.

"What are you doing?" A voice asked as the white haired man, Peter, poked his head around the corner where she heard rustling. He stared at the girl with his red orbs behind those big round glasses. The rest of the man appeared and he began walking toward the Maria who was still practically sitting inside the thorny bush. The first thing she noticed as the rest of his body appeared from around the corner was a gun held in his white gloved hand. Maria's blue eyes grew wide in fear again after the very short relief she felt as Peter poked his head around the corner. She tried to push herself away from the bush to run away, but only sank painfully further inside it. "What's wrong?" Peter asked curiously but also slightly annoyed. He held out his free hand out to her when he reached her. Maria's eyes went to his hand then to his face.

"Why do you have a gun?" she asked fearfully without taking the help she was offered. Peter glanced down at his hand realizing his gun was still there. Maria began trying to pull herself out of the thorns again more slowly this time, still ignoring the rabbit's outstretched hand, when a sudden bright light flashed around the firearm and when the light disappeared, the golden pocket watch was laying in his grasp, connected to the gold chain over his shoulder. The teenage girl stared as he looked back at her. "How did you do that!" She asked, finally finding her voice and causing the white eared man to tip his head to the side in confusion.

"Do what?" He asked. Maria began stuttering pieces of words and pointing to his hand as he let the pocket watch drop to his side.

"Y- You turned your gun into your pocket watch! You're a wizard!" She gushed out, still wide eyed and suddenly realizing she was free of the bush. Peter couldn't help but give a small laugh.

"A wizard? No. All the role holders can do that, it's not magic." He explained, before continuing. "The Queen sent me to find and lead you to your room." He finished and Maria nodded as Peter turned his back and she followed him. The shock was fading and the fear was coming back, now. Finally she tried to dismiss her fear by thinking more rationally. 'He said he was looking for me, so he must have fired his gun into the air to get my attention and go toward him or to her me yell and come find me… That must be it, calm down.' She thought to herself and her heart slowed a bit.

"Thank you, Peter. I have so many questions, and this whole… alternate universe thing is hard to get use to… I've been questioning. Peter, what's a role holder?" She prattled on. The man turned his head slightly to her from the corner of his red eye. She just gazed back up at him as she followed the rabbit into the castle.

"Role holders are those who have roles in this world… For example… The soldiers and maids here don't have names or faces because they are not role holders." He explained patiently. Maria's moth formed an O in understanding.

"I think I get it… So… The queen and Ace are role holders, too, right?" She asked. Peter nodded, leading her down hall ways and up a flight or two of stairs. The teen took this time to question the Prime Minister once more. "Since I fell down that hole and landed here in Wonderland, are there other holes like that in my world?" She asked. Peter hesitated, unsure of what to tell the girl for a moment.

"I believe that question would be best answered by Nightmare. He is the man in control of any openings from our world to your own." The young man answered as he turned to face her outside one door among many in the hall. "Here is your room." He said and withdrew one of his gloved hands into his pocket while Maria thanked him again. He took a glass phial out and held it out to her. It was filled with clear water looking liquid and the glass stopper was shaped like a heart. "The Queen instructed me to have you drink this." He said and it suddenly felt like his manner changed slightly. Maria carefully took the phial and scanned it with her blue bespectacled eyes. Looking back up to meet the red orbs watching her, she felt a little suspicious.

"What is it?" She inquired, simply. Peter shifted where he stood.

"It's called The Potion of Heart." He answered as vaguely as possible. This didn't escape her notice; however, she was still trying to convince herself to trust the albino rabbit.

"So, then… It's for my heart, right? What- Do I need this for the shock of coming into this world? Will it calm me down or something?" She asked, still keeping the heart stopper in the bottle, stubbornly. Peter shifted again, this time it seemed like he was becoming impatient.

"I suppose you could say that… There may not be any path you can take to get back to your world, but that potion may well be the key to getting you back home." Peter said being completely truthful. Maria read the sincerity in his face and finally pulled the stopper out of the bottle. Before she brought the phial to her lips, though, she looked back up at him, noticing how alert his ears were, that whole time, standing straight up and twitching in the direction of any distant sound.

"Why not tell me earlier? You all made me think there was possible way I could get home for a while…" She asked brushing her wavy blond locks behind her shoulders, preparing to drink. Peter thought for a moment, causing her more suspicion.

"That potion doesn't exactly grow on trees. It takes time as well, so the longer you spend questioning me, the longer you will be away from your world." Peter finally said in an almost snap like tone. He was getting more impatient. Maria finally seceded to take a chance and she brought the glass to her mouth and tipped the liquid into her mouth. She couldn't help but to make a bit of a sour face at the taste. It felt warm and a little thicker than water; it reminded Maria of a kind of sweet artificial fruit type medicine she had never had before. After draining the phial, she replaced the stopper and handed it back to Peter who seemed to be much more relaxed. He looked down at her hand, but did not take the item extended to him.

"You should keep the bottle. They way to get back to your world, you need to get to know people around this world. As you do, the potion will automatically refill inside the phial and when the bottle is full again, you will be able to return home." He explained.

"Oh… Okay. Well… Thank you… Again… You helped me a lot today." She said slowly and gave the man a big thankful smile. Peter just nodded in a way that made Maria think he was uncomfortable. She couldn't get over how odd everything felt, he world and the people, too.

"Well… I have paperwork to do. Any questions you might have can be answered by most role holders. A maid will be by shortly to give you a tour." Peter said and with that, he continued walking down the hall. Maria sighed and turned the doorknob to her room. She was exhausted with all these changes and all she could hope was that she could go to sleep and wake up in her own world.

Opening the door, Maria couldn't help but gasp. It was beautiful. A balcony, four poster bed, fireplace. It felt like a small house inside the castle was given to her. She gazed around at the book cases and elegant paintings on the walls. She felt a warm gratitude swell in her chest. She felt bad for taking up so much hospitality, but it touched her to know they were making her as happy and comfortable as possible while she was there.

"Oh… I'll have fun looking about the room in a while… I'm too tired out at the moment." She mumbled to herself and Maria dragged her feet toward the bed and after collapsing onto it, she kicked her boots off with difficulty and didn't bother to move her head to the pillows, or cover up. She fell asleep with her socked feet hanging over the side of the bed and her arms folded under her head over the middle of the thick blanket.

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Peter was still walking a short hallway away, towards his room, when his sensitive sleek ears picked up a tiny noise behind him and he turned his head to see a smiling face.

"What, Ace?" He asked irritably. The knight continued to smile as he leaned against a wall that had been empty moments before. His arms were crossed over his chest and there was a strange look Peter couldn't recognize in those smiling red eyes. Ace's trench coat was dragging on the ground gathering dust and who knows what else on the ground, causing the rabbit to cringe inwardly.

"Sir Peter has already fallen for the foreigner hasn't he?" The playful knight mocked. Peter turned fully to face Ace with a glare on his face. He sighed angrily and tapped his gloved fingers in his impatience.

"You are making no sense again." He growled at the annoyingly happy face.

"I saw you give the potion to Maria. Vivaldi never asked you to give her that… I AM curious, though… Where did you get that?" Ace asked cocking his head to the side. Peter was feeling uncomfortable again. This damn knight was too sneaky for his own good. How he would love to inch his fingers closer to his pocket watch and in the blink of an eye, end the man's life, saving Peter a world of trouble. Finally, Peter took a deep breath and gave Ace the truth.

"I ran into Nightmare a dozen or so time changes ago. He gave it to me. I need to ask him about it as well." He said and made to turn back to his room, until Ace distracted him again.

"You never commented on your feelings toward Maria, though. Admit it, you like the outsider." He coaxed. The rabbit's hands curled into fist. His temper was quite short today.

"Hardly! I merely find her interesting, and none of us want are looking forward to checking her room in the morning to discover her missing, as she would have been, had I not made her drink that potion… I'm amazed that during her time wandering around with you, she never focused on leaving this world hard enough to actually disappear." Peter said and began walking away.

"Maybe Maria likes me." Ace suggested and Peter looked over his shoulder at him.

"She's too sharp to like you." He said softly, though the words lashed out of his mouth. Before Ace could respond, Peter retreated to his room with the intention of finishing his paperwork before going to bed. For some reason a few of the things Ace had said bothered him. Why did Ace think he had fallen for Maria? True, it was said that everyone would inevitably fall for a foreigner, he couldn't change that, but he didn't feel much toward the girl at all. He was more confused by her than anything. Why did Nightmare give him the potion? He must have planned some of this. He can read minds, but not even nightmare could see the future. Lastly, why did Ace's voice keep ringing annoyingly in his long ears?

'Maybe Maria likes me.'

What did he care? He might want Maria to have a good opinion of him, but who cares if she likes Ace? Was it because Ace was always incredibly bothersome to him? His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. He didn't answer. Peter was in a foul mood and if anyone dared open his door a bullet would be through their head before they completely enter. They knocked again.

"Peter! The door to my room won't open again!" Ace yelled and Peter couldn't help but drop his face into his hand.

"Your room is on the floor under this one, you dolt!"


	3. Chapter 3

This might seem a bit dramatic, but life is very important to little Maria and she tends to let emotions get the better of her… Plus I wrote most of this in one night, so I'm tired. I'ma post this and go to bed. Thanks to everyone for the reviews and I hope everyone had great Holidays and a happy new year. XD

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After working for an hour or so on paperwork in his room, Peter had finished and decided he should go to bed. With a quick yawn and stretch, He shuffled his papers and pushed away from his desk. Pushing his wooden chair back, neatly, he walked to his canopy bed and while he took off his shoes, he continued to think to himself about that day. A Foreigner was now living with them and before the evening had even passed; his mind was driving him crazy, riddled with questions. Finally crawling into bed he became slightly bitter toward the girl or Nightmare, he wasn't sure which, and the only thing he was sure of was that he didn't like the changes much. He was use to being sure about everything or at least mostly everything and never being distracted by such insignificant events. He reached over to place his round glasses on the table across from his bed and click the last lamp off and eventually drifted into an uneasy sleep.

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Knock, knock, knock.

Maria jumped out of her sleep, hanging halfway off her bed. She looked around her and took in the enormous room and four poster bed in a panic. This was not her room; she fell off the bed when she tried to jump up and landed in an uncomfortable position on the floor. She felt something slip out of her jeans pocket and roll into her foot. Jumping in shock, she looked at whatever had touched her and found the heart stopper first, in the glass phial. Everything came back to her in that instant and her heart sank when she realized she was still in Wonderland.

"Ah... Are you alright, Miss?" The maid asked, peeking into the room with her eyeless face. Maria jumped again. She remembered that the sound she awoke to was a fist against the wooden door.

"Y-yes… I was asleep and forgot where I was, so I got scared." She admit embarrassed. The maid smiled politely. "Did you need anything?" She asked when the servant remained silent. The woman smiled wider before replying.

"Would you like a tour of the castle, young miss? I was told to come last night, but Her Majesty ordered me to wait until morning and give you time to rest. I hope I have not disturbed you." She said with an apologetic curtsy. Maria remembered Peter informing her that he sent for a maid to tour her around the palace. She quickly stood up and brushed herself off. She realized she had her same clothes on and would not seem proper.

"Oh, yes, of course, but… I have nothing to change into… And please, you can call me Maria." The teen said nervously, feeling slightly panicked about living in another world, now. The maid's smile faded and she looked a little scared as she came fully into the room and closed the door behind her.

"O-oh, please. If the Prime Minister or Her Majesty hears me call you by your name, they will think I am being disrespectful and will execute me. You are an honored guest and a foreigner at that. I must show the utmost respect for you… As for clothes, we found a few dresses you may like." She said and tried to hide the panic in her face. Maria had no chance to say anything before the servant clapped her hands and the room went dark for a moment or two. When she could see again, she raised her hand in a gesture for the maid to wait a moment so she should ask when had happened, but before she could even do this much, she realized her hand she had held up was wearing a lacey purple glove that made its way to her elbow. Her other arm matched and she looked down at herself. She was wearing a beautiful purple dress with layers of lighter purple and white skirts. The skirts fluffed out slightly but not to the point where she would have to get use to walking in crowded hallways while wearing the dress.

"Oh, wow!" Maria exclaimed. She couldn't stop herself but doing the typical twirl to see her skirts twirl and move back into place. "This is beautiful! I usually don't wear dresses except for special occasions, but… It does look better than my real clothes." She admits with a small smile and looked up at the maid, not ev_e_n questioning how it had appeared on her. She decided it was either magic or she didn't want to know. The maid circled around her as Maria marveled at the dress.

"Ah, the miss enjoys the dress! Splendid! There are others as well, but we can show you those later. First should we be off for the tour?" The maid said, hoping Maria had forgotten her dislike of the name 'Miss.' she was easily one of the pushiest maids in the castle. Maria would have protested, but did not want to make trouble for the young servant and chose to ignore it. She hesitated for a moment.

"Yeah, just one minute." She said and carefully pulled the lacey purple gloves off of her arms with guilty blue eyes. She lay them carefully on the bed and walked to the nightstand to put on the glasses she didn't even remember taking off. She took a moment to scratch both of her arms from elbow to wrist several times. "Sorry, but lace makes me all… itchy." She added a nervous laugh and the maid laughed with her.

"Of course. It is a good thing to know when finding you more dresses." She said lightly and they headed out the door.

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He looked around himself to make sure he knew where he was and nodded slightly to himself when he realized the floating colors all around the foggy air. He was in Nightmare's dream world. Peter waited for a moment before tapping his foot. Even in his sleep, he was being more impatient than usual.

"Nightmare." He called testily. The silver haired man floated out from behind Peter who was not amused. The red eyed young man had no need for any type of greeting; instead, he folded his arms in their plaid jacket and stopped tapping his foot. "Why did you give me that phial? You obviously were responsible for Maria coming to this world, so don't try to play games with me." He demanded in a hard tone. The single silver orb watched Peter momentarily before responding quietly.

"Why does it matter? It can't be changed now. I can feel her dreaming in our world, so I know you gave her the potion… Unless you care about her, why do you want to know enough to bring yourself to the dream realm?" He asked, poking at the human rabbit's own insecurities. His white hair swayed as the incubus zoomed around him in a circle. He didn't have a solid answer for the question, either, but he could at least sound sure of himself and not over react, thus, giving himself away. What did he mean, anyway? How could Peter have brought himself into the dream realm? Only Nightmare has power over that.

"She wants answers and she will keep bothering everyone she lives with until she gets them. The potion, however, may not concern her, I ask because you CHOSE to give it to me. You can't read the future, so how did you know she would come to the castle before disappearing?" He asked before another possible solution hit him. "Or did you give a potion to one person living in every region?" He asked. All the time, while the albino rabbit was feeling uncomfortably and impatient, Nightmare continued to smirk down at him. He flew around Peter once more with his legs crossed in a relaxed pose before he chose to respond.

" First of all, do not over estimate my powers, with enough will, others may cross to this world in their sleep-" Shit! He had forgotten Nightmare reads minds! That annoying little bast-"Now, Now, Prime Minister… Where was I? Ah… You may feel unclear as to how you feel towards the foreigner, but I understand well. Here, I shall explain to you." He offered and Peter thought fiercely.

'Don't patronize me, I dare not try to harm you in this world but once I wake up, the Clock Tower isn't far and y-' Nightmare began speaking again as if he hadn't heard Peter's murderous intention.

"You, Peter, are glad to be in the presence of someone from the outside, it is nothing strange. You aren't too sure about her yet, though, because you don't like her hardly at all. You don't know her well enough to, anyway. I won't tell you about the phial, but I will admit I brought her here, waiting for the right moment and location to open a link between her world and our own." Nightmare waited a moment before continuing, responding to the course of Peter's thoughts. "I don't recommend telling Maria about any of this, though, to send her to me and let her barrage me with her questions, because I will deny it every time. Not only does this earn me more time to learn about her in both what she says and thinks, she will also return to the castle with the belief that you lied to her and just wanted her out. After that, knowing her, she would feel unwelcome and eventually move to another region all on your doing." Peter stood unsure of what to do and unwilling to think anything for a while, lest him mind be violated by Nightmare, when he finally opened his mouth to speak, he blinked for a moment and when he opened his shining red eyes, they met the canopy of his bed.

"This is the Prime Minister's room… He doesn't like to be disturbed, especially while he is working, so I don't recommend knocking at all. There are times he is out walking in the rose maze or accompanying Her Majesty, though, he is unpredictable. A personal tip would be steer clear of the Prime Minister unless you can see he is in a good mood, Miss." One of the maids said just on the other side of his door. He sat up in his bed and quickly pulled his plaid jacket over his shirt. He was in a hurry; he was itching for such a big mouthed maid to meet his gun.

"What? Really? He seemed so nice yesterday… We ARE talking about Peter White, aren't we?" Maria asked uncertainly. His long ears stood straight up at the sound of Maria's voice. Was she only just getting the tour he ordered for her last night? He moved even faster now as he pulled his shoes and glasses on.

"Oh, yes. I've never seen Sir White afraid to shoot almost anyone down. You are different, though, I suppose… You are a stranger here. Your life is far different from ours." At this point, Peter had climbed the silver ladder to his room door and now opened it with a glare at the maid, ignoring Maria, momentarily. The maid instantly jumped away from him in fear.

"There is no need for a servant such as you!" He snapped and reached for the golden pocket watch on his side. The maid was stuttering and shaking. Maria was confused and could do nothing but stare.

"P-Please, Sir White." She pleaded but, in a flash of light, a gun was in the man's hand. Maria began to panic. Had what the maid said been true? It would certainly make sense. Peter aimed at her with his narrow eyes hard.

"What are you doing!" Maria screamed out and started foreword to knock the gun out of his white gloved hands, but she was too late. With a loud BANG that pressed painfully against the teen's ears, the nurse fell and her black dress grew darker around the hole where the bullet had entered in her chest. She hit the ground with a heavy thud and Maria got down on her knees next to her.

"H-Hey! Maid!" She shook her slightly and Peter stared at her with shock. He had never seen anyone so concerned about a servant and the oddity of it made him question what she was thinking. There was another reason he stared also, though. The short amount of time he had seen her the day before, she was wearing her long-sleeved red shirt and jeans, absurd for a place like Wonderland and not as attractive as the purple dress she now wore, folding neatly on the floor around where she sat on her knees. He would have continued taking in this site, had he not noticed Maria's head moving from the fallen maid to face him with a horrified expression and watering eyes.

"You're a monster!" She yelled out, trying to get to her feet and falling back to the ground again in her haste. Her legs were shaking too much. "What the hell is wrong with you!" She shouted in a strangely high voice. Peter forced himself to say something before she got her footing and ran down the hall, as she was obviously trying to do.

"What?" Was all he managed to say, still shocked. Maria's blue eyes finally spilled over and two tears rolled toward her chin as she looked up at Peter in fear and rage. She had never witnessed the death of a human before.

"What do you mean, 'what?' You psycho! You killed a woman! She didn't even do anything, as if that would make it right!" She choked out. All the young man could do was stare in amazement. To be so passionate about the life of this mere card with no purpose other than to serve those who live in the castle. How pointless and yet fascinating at the same time.

"She did plenty in just the moment I heard her, through my door." Peter tried to explain, finally finding his mind. "A servant with such a mouth as hers is nothing but a pest her and I asked her to tour you last night." He continued but Maria looked more furious than before, her pale face become darker red every moment. Peter couldn't stare at her enough. He was more confused and intrigued than he had ever been in his life.

"That's your excuse? The queen ordered her to wait for me to get rest before touring me around!" Maria cried in disbelief.

"That doesn't excuse the way she spoke or what she said." Peter said, thinking he had one the argument. He was wrong. Maria clenched her hands into fists straight at her side and more angry tears rolled down her face.

"If that is a reasonable excuse for ending the life of a human being in this world, I'm leaving! I don't know how, but I will find a way on my own! I don't want to get to know murderers to get out of this hell hole!" She screamed and began stomping off. Peter felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He was not use to the feeling of guilt but he felt it. He did not feel guilt for killing the maid of course, but making the outsider mad and uncomfortable living in the castle. He was so incredibly interested by her as well, though. Why on Earth would she care so much about that insignificant life? In any case, his guilt and interest forced him to follow the path Maria had taken down the hall toward her room.

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Maria slammed the door of her room shut and locked it. How could life mean so little here. Adding to her already present stress, were a jumble of many other feelings and she threw herself on the bed, crying in anger, fear, guilt and sadness for the poor maid and her family. Maria flung her glasses across the room and out of the way, so she could comfortably bury her face in her arms and her tears would not blind her. Before she could do anything else there was a soft knock on her door.

"Go away!" she yelled in a shaking voice. Her shout gained a soft voiced response.

"Maria… Open the door." Peter's voice said and if he said anything after that, Maria couldn't hear it because she screamed as loud as she could, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her fists so hard she thought her nails might draw blood.

"MURDERER!"


End file.
